Ton Koopman, Paris, Cité de la Musique, 2008, Photo by Paul Ruet, CC 3.0
What a lovely, relaxing concert this was. Not so relaxing getting to The Wig on a Friday evening in the run up to Christmas. Nor all that relaxing navigating the inners of a packed Wigmore Hall. But once we were in our seats…bliss.
Janie must have asked me three times if it was ACTUALLY Ton Koopman‘s birthday that day. I said “probably not” and was right, but he had just turned 80 a few week’s before the concert, so this must be his 80th birthday tour.
A man who has dedicated his career to the Baroque canon, we sensed that Koopman surrounds himself with the finest exponents of baroque music, making a happy atmosphere and sound with those people.
Here is a link to the programme on The Wigmore Hall site. If by chance anything befalls that link, here is a scrape.
Before the interval, we heard:
- Trio Sonata in D minor for recorder, violin and continuo TWV42:d7
- Trio Sonata in G minor for oboe, violin and continuo TWV42:g5
- Sonata in F minor for bassoon and continuo TWV41:f1
- Trio Sonata in F for violin, viola da gamba and continuo TWV42:F10
- Quartet in D minor for recorder, traverso, bassoon and continuo from Tafelmusik II TWV43:d1
After the interval we heard:
- Trio Sonata in C for recorder, traverso and continuo TWV42:C1
- Quartet in G for traverso, oboe, violin and continuo TWV43:G2
- Trio Sonata in F for recorder, viola da gamba and continuo TWV42:F3
- Quartet in G for recorder, oboe, violin and continuo TWV43:G6
You might get a feel for the sound from the following YouTube, which includes Robert Smith (whom we saw) on the bass viol and focuses on recorder sonatas, of which we heard a few:
Or this one, which is a live performance of a Telemann trio sonata with recorder and viol:
Or this one, a movement from the Oboe Sonata g5 recorded by Ton Koopman and his then mates 30 years ago:
Indeed, that 1994 album looks great – I have playlisted it on my YouTube Music here – this link should work even if it looks crossed out.